CARNIVAL OF FLOWERS
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK BETWEEN THE GARDENS
Every September the city fills up for the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, the gardens do their thing and Ruthven Street gets busy in the best way. If you're coming in for the weekend, the flowers take care of themselves. This is the other half of the plan.
Start with a late breakfast, end with a long lunch
Queens Park and Laurel Bank Park are best early, before the middle of the day heat and the crowds. That makes lunch the natural landing point, and it's worth booking rather than hoping. Our kitchen runs lunch from 11:30am to 2pm, and the beer garden is the pick on a warm day, with a retractable roof for when a spring storm arrives.
The afternoon gap
Between lunch and dinner most kitchens shut, which is how visitors end up eating chips from a service station. Our snack menu runs from 2pm to 6pm Wednesday to Sunday, so you can sit down with wings, arancini, calamari, garlic pizza bread or a full pizza while everyone works out what to do next.
Where to sit
Downstairs the main bar and dining room has street access and plenty of light. The beer garden is the sunny option with heating for the cooler evenings. Upstairs the Top Bar is a fully enclosed deck with the best view of the city at night, which is the right way to end a carnival day.
If you're bringing a group
Carnival weekends are the busiest of the year, so book a table if there are more than a few of you. For bigger groups we have function spaces for 20 up to 150 guests, which suits a family reunion, a bus group or a work trip that happens to land on the same weekend.
Staying in town
We're at 520 Ruthven Street in the CBD, an easy walk from the main accommodation and the shops, with Oaks Toowoomba next door. Walk in, book a table, and let the day unfold.